TLDR - need help testing/setting up VTS and/or Klingon Plus credit boards for multi-player games.
Hi everyone, I'm quite new to the whole arcade game scene (but with decades of computer and electronics experience) so please be gentle
I am looking for some help with a couple of multi-player arcade systems (both Sega 2-seat systems - Ford Racing and F355 Challenge)
I have found some manuals online but they don't really explain very much about the coin mechs and/or credit board setups and nothing at all about what to do when things don't work properly.
Both systems work fine on Freeplay, with single or multi-player games, so I'm quite happy that they both work and communicate with each other OK.
The problems I am having are when trying to install new coin mechs and getting all the settings and cabling correct (what was in there when I got my hands on them may or may not be original and was certainly not in the best of conditions!)
Both systems have (and appear to have always had) a single coin mech feeding a 'shared' credit board - the Ford system is a VTS (twin) board, probably driven by an SR3 (missing) coin mech, and the F355 system has a Klingon Plus V3.2 board, fed by a C220 coin mech (damaged).
I am trying to install universal multi-coin (CH926 style) mechs which have successfully been used to replace similar units in other machines, it's just the multi-player 'credit sharing' that is causing problems.
My understanding is that the coin mechs simply generate a pulse (or multiple pulses) for each valid coin entered (on the relevant coin channel where appropriate) which the credit board then accumulates and calculates the relevant number of credits to pass on to the game machine(s). Quite how this is done, and in particular the sharing of credits, is not very clear to me at the moment (e.g. does it go via the UGCI boards in the Ford systems?).
Can anyone validate this thinking or advise what is really going on?
On both systems, the coin meters correctly register 10 units per coin (£1 or Token) but the credits do not get passed on to the games properly.
With the Ford Racing system, when the VTS board settings are 'correct' (as far as I can tell from the documentation I can find), it will not register any credits even though the coin meter recognises them. However, both the Service buttons will register a credit on their respective system.
With 'incorrect' settings, I can get it to register a credit on one (usually just the 'master') or the other system (depending on where the coin mech is connected), but not on both.
I have not tried messing with the switch settings on the F355 system as I cannot find any information about the Klingon board. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
When I connected a CH926 coin mech (pulses on the Coin 1 wire), although it appeared to be working OK (recognising credits) before the system settings were changed to take it off Freeplay (and restarted), now the credits are not registering (even when set back to Freeplay). I have also tried re-connecting a C220 (and rebooting) but still get no credits.
I am becoming increasingly concerned that the credit boards have somehow been damaged (perhaps by changing connections while powered up?) but have no way of bench-testing or otherwise proving their viability.
Any help at all with where to go from here would be greatly appreciated - I'm running out of ideas for things to try!
Many thanks,
Ken.
Hi everyone, I'm quite new to the whole arcade game scene (but with decades of computer and electronics experience) so please be gentle
I am looking for some help with a couple of multi-player arcade systems (both Sega 2-seat systems - Ford Racing and F355 Challenge)
I have found some manuals online but they don't really explain very much about the coin mechs and/or credit board setups and nothing at all about what to do when things don't work properly.
Both systems work fine on Freeplay, with single or multi-player games, so I'm quite happy that they both work and communicate with each other OK.
The problems I am having are when trying to install new coin mechs and getting all the settings and cabling correct (what was in there when I got my hands on them may or may not be original and was certainly not in the best of conditions!)
Both systems have (and appear to have always had) a single coin mech feeding a 'shared' credit board - the Ford system is a VTS (twin) board, probably driven by an SR3 (missing) coin mech, and the F355 system has a Klingon Plus V3.2 board, fed by a C220 coin mech (damaged).
I am trying to install universal multi-coin (CH926 style) mechs which have successfully been used to replace similar units in other machines, it's just the multi-player 'credit sharing' that is causing problems.
My understanding is that the coin mechs simply generate a pulse (or multiple pulses) for each valid coin entered (on the relevant coin channel where appropriate) which the credit board then accumulates and calculates the relevant number of credits to pass on to the game machine(s). Quite how this is done, and in particular the sharing of credits, is not very clear to me at the moment (e.g. does it go via the UGCI boards in the Ford systems?).
Can anyone validate this thinking or advise what is really going on?
On both systems, the coin meters correctly register 10 units per coin (£1 or Token) but the credits do not get passed on to the games properly.
With the Ford Racing system, when the VTS board settings are 'correct' (as far as I can tell from the documentation I can find), it will not register any credits even though the coin meter recognises them. However, both the Service buttons will register a credit on their respective system.
With 'incorrect' settings, I can get it to register a credit on one (usually just the 'master') or the other system (depending on where the coin mech is connected), but not on both.
I have not tried messing with the switch settings on the F355 system as I cannot find any information about the Klingon board. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
When I connected a CH926 coin mech (pulses on the Coin 1 wire), although it appeared to be working OK (recognising credits) before the system settings were changed to take it off Freeplay (and restarted), now the credits are not registering (even when set back to Freeplay). I have also tried re-connecting a C220 (and rebooting) but still get no credits.
I am becoming increasingly concerned that the credit boards have somehow been damaged (perhaps by changing connections while powered up?) but have no way of bench-testing or otherwise proving their viability.
Any help at all with where to go from here would be greatly appreciated - I'm running out of ideas for things to try!
Many thanks,
Ken.
